Cultured Vultures Reads George Orwell's Complete Poetry

Rudi Abdallah reviews George Orwell: The Complete Poetry for Cultured Vultures. ("We Eat Your Words.") What was Orwell's poetry like? According to Abdallah, Orwell's poetry is patriotic, "highly accessible," with a "musical quality." More:

We all know George Orwell the novelist, the polemicist, the doom laden clairvoyant who used prose as his weapon to warn against totalitarianism. Despite the universally recognised phrases he bequeathed us, Orwell the man remains a mystery. In an age where people gush about what socks they wore for breakfast two Fridays’ ago, a venerated writer within the clasp of living memory who is shrouded in ambiguity is a warming thought. His new poetry collection, George Orwell: The Complete Poetry, tentatively demystifies a man who loved, raged and moaned like the people whose plight he compassionately exposed. From Orwell’s poetry as a student to the very last verse that poured out of him on his deathbed, we are provided with a tantalising tour of the surface of the mind of an engrossing contrarian.

Each poem is prefaced by helpful explanatory notes courtesy of Dione Venables, contextualising Orwell’s personal relations around the point of composition. The notes are an excellent guide, and Venables avoids patronising the reader with over-indulgent ruminations. She, like us, is a giddy fan speculating on what Orwell could have meant with his always readable and occasionally incandescent poetic fragments.

Starkly, Orwell’s patriotism endured throughout his life. The poems are arranged chronologically, enabling us to trace a line from his rallying cry to England’s men to defend the country during the First World War in ‘Awake! Young Men of England’ to a scathing riposte to a pacifist during the Second World War in ‘As One Combatant to Another; Letter to ‘Obadiah Hornbrooke’. From youth to death, he expounded a passionate love for England that sat uneasily with the socialist creed he espoused throughout his life. Art is often viewed as a rebel’s refuge, but Orwell’s rebellion came against his comrades. In ‘One Combatant to Another…’ he invites sectarian backlash by fearlessly praising Winston Churchill’s leadership qualities and condemning his political ally’s anti-war stance. By marrying poetry and patriotism, Orwell gave credence to a conservative value, elevating love for his country above left-wing ideological purity he loathed. [...]

Continue at Cultured Vultures. For another perspective on Orwell the poet, go here.